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May 2, 2009

Swine flu may be turning up in San Ramon, Pleasanton; students in Concord tested; but the disease may not be as potent as first feared

Update 1 p.m. The Contra Costa Times says that Lone Tree Elementary in Antioch will be closed Monday and possibly remain closed for up to two weeks after a student there tested probable for the swine flu.

Earlier Saturday: Contra Costa County Health officials announced Friday night that they were closing Coyote Creek Elementary in San Ramon after a probable case of H1N1 virus—what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prefers to now call the swine flu—showed up there. So reports CBS5.

Also, 13 students and one staff member in the Pleasanton schools were tested for possible infection, though the results have not yet come back yet, the Pleasanton Weekly says. Students at a Concord elementary also were tested, but those results turned out negative.

These young people and adults join the some 20 people, whose suspected or confirmed cases of infection, have shown up in the Bay Area in the past week.

Worries about the spread of the illness have so far prompted the closure of nine schools throughout the Bay Area, CBS5 says, including the one in San Ramon, one in Pittsburg and one, announced Friday, in Bay Point, the Contra Costa Times says. At the Bay Point school, a second grader tested positive for the illness. Those schools will remain closed for 14 days in accordance with new CDC guidelines.

John Muir Medical Center this week set up tents at its Walnut Creek and Concord campuses to examine patients who fear they might have the illness, the Times says. Health officials have been encouraging people who have mild flu-like symptoms to contact their doctors instead of overloading hospitals.

The CDC says that there have so far been 141 cases of H1N1 infection, according to the CDC. Most of the cases have been mild, and one flu expert told the Huffington Post that there's no reason to believe the new virus is a more serious strain than seasonal flu. However, one death has been confirmed in the United States, a toddler from Mexico who was visiting the United States.

For more information about the swine flu, including known facts about the virus, symptoms, and links to national and local public health sites, visit CBS5.com's Health Watch page.